1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an apparatus and method for constructing walls, and more particularly to a method to construct walls of framed block assemblies which contain the fundamental blocks are frame members having an interlocking structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The following 15 patents and published patent applications are the closest prior art references which are related to the present invention.
1. U.S. Pat. No. 1,562,728 issued to Theodore Julius John Albrecht on Nov. 24, 1925 for “Building Construction” (hereafter the “Albrecht Patent”);
2. U.S. Pat. No. 3,511,005 issued to Gordon MacMaster on May 12, 1970 for “Building Construction” (hereafter the “MacMaster Patent”);
3. U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,861 issued to Alexander C. H. Weiss on Mar. 26, 1974 for “Wall Construction Module And System” (hereafter the “Weiss Patent”);
4. U.S. Pat. No. 4,115,980 issued to Charles Simeon Martel et al. on Sep. 26, 1978 for “Wall System” (hereafter the “Martel Patent”);
5. U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,362 issued to Rafael C. Benitez on Jan. 26, 1993 for “Interlocking Building Blocks” (hereafter the “Benitez Patent”);
6. U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,863 issued to Felix J. Simmons, Jr. on Dec. 7, 1993 for “interlocking Pixel Blocks And Beams” (hereafter the “Simmons Patent”);
7. U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,271 issued to Peter R. Pitchford on Dec. 31, 1996 for “Interlocking Building Block” (hereafter the “Pitchford Patent”);
8. U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,046 issued to David J. Fanger et al. and assigned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Jul. 7, 1998 for “Modular Construction Member” (hereafter the “Fanger Patent”);
9. U.S. Design Patent No. Des. 403,437 issued to Angelo Risi et al. and assigned to Rothbury International Inc. on Dec. 29, 1998 for “Modular Block” (hereafter the “Risi Design Patent”);
10. U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,520 issued to Assad Abdul-Baki on May 11, 1999 for “Interlocking Building Blocks” (hereafter the “Abdul-Baki Patent”);
11. U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,009 issued to Dominic Cerrato on Jun. 12, 2001 for “Flexible Interlocking Wall System” (hereafter the “Cerrato Patent”);
12. U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2003/0234488 issued to Cary Povitz on Dec. 25, 2003 for “Multiple Game Block Assembly” (hereafter the “Povitz Published Patent Application”);
13. U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2004/0177575 issued to Klaus Posselt on Sep. 16, 2004 for “System Of Interlocking Wall And Corner Components For Construction Of Buildings” (hereafter the “Posselt Published Patent Application”);
14. U.S. Pat. No. 6,817,154 issued to John Fitzgerald Dolan et al. and assigned to New Technology Resources, Inc. on Nov. 16, 2004 for “Environment Resistant Retaining Wall Block And Methods Of Use Thereof” (hereafter the “Dolan Patent”);
15. U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2006/0010810 issued to Arkadiusz Muszynski on Jan. 19, 2006 for “Wall Construction Using Hollow Glass Building Elements” (hereafter the “Muszynski Published Patent Application”);
The Albrecht Patent discloses creating a vertical dovetail recess to the upper portion of the block and a mating dove tail tongue 3 projecting from underneath the surface which interlocks with the dovetail recess of the block immediately below. It discloses the concept of having interlocking male tongues and female channels to receive them in the horizontal orientation. In addition, it discloses the concept of having vertical dove tail tongues 12 which are fitted at a right angle portion into an engaging slot as best shown in the top view of FIG. 2.
The MacMaster Patent discloses a wall construction consisting of a frame within which are arranged blocks that are secured to the frame to form complete wall panels or enclosures. Essentially they consist of male members such as 81a which insert into the upper portion of a horizontal block and also in the side wall of a horizontal block which inserts into a corresponding female member in the lower portion of the block and in the side wall of the block and are held together with pins 90. This patent discloses the concept of having male vertical members extending from the horizontal section into being inserted into mating female channels to create a wall structure as shown in FIG. 1. It can also be half blocks to give it a more fanciful design. The blocks are described as being made of wood.
The Weiss Patent discloses a wall system which also discloses the concept of having the interlocking blocks pre-made in the factory so they can be interlocked to create a wall. As discussed in Column 4, Lines 10 through 22 the patent states “In addition to the interlocking engagement of the members 26 with the vertical tapered ends of the stacked modules as shown in FIG. 7, there is a secure stabilizing interlocking and interfitting relationship between the tops and bottoms of adjacent modules 10 in each vertical course of the wall or partition as depicted in FIG. 8. That is to say, the upper tapered end of each module 10 having the converging faces 17 interfits with the correspondingly recessed bottom of the next module having the converging faces 20. In this manner, the vertical courses or flights in the wall can be erected easily in a factory or on a job site by unskilled labor and with a minimum effort, as will be further explained.”
The Martel Patent discloses a wall system wherein each block has female dove tail members as best illustrated in FIG. 1 wherein adjacent blocks have a male pin type structure 111 as illustrated in FIG. 3 which is hammered into adjacent blocks to form a wall.
The Benitez Patent is an interlocking building block system which contains a male protrusion 20 on one surface and a female slot 56 on another surface so that the blocks can be vertically affixed together with a male on one side inserted into a female on the other side. The next row of blocks can be offset as also shown in FIG. 2. On the horizontal surface there are also male protrusions which insert into female corresponding protrusions on a lower surface of each corresponding block. This forms a strong structure. However, this is not a prefabricated structure but is essentially a concept where interlocking building blocks are joined as they are being cemented together by a mason.
The Simmons Patent primarily deals with a graphic artwork pixel interlocking blocks but it discloses the concept of having blocks containing interlocking male protruding members and female receiving slots so they can be interlocked. In addition, a graphic artifact forms from pixels which may be implemented as interlocked pixel blocks of the invention.
The Pitchford Patent discloses a multiplicity of interlocking building blocks which can be placed within a frame assembly. It further discloses the concept of having building blocks which have a male receiving member which are inserted into female slots and the frame. In addition, the upper surfaces of each of the male blocks contain male grooves which can be inserted into female receiving members at the lower surface of each block. The Patent through FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrates one method of constructing a block wall using blocks 10 wherein a first row of blocks 56 are assembled and then additional rows, such as row 58 are assembled and mounted on top of row 56. Optional frame 60 may be used to box in the wall of blocks or other capping strips may be used. A frame member such as frame 6 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 would be two parallel groves 62 to accommodate the rims 40 and 44 on either side of the blocks. FIG. 15 illustrates another use for capping strips 70 in that it can be mounted to another surface such as by screws 90 and thus used to anchor a wall formed by blocks 10 to a floor or other wall or other supporting surfaces.
The Fanger Patent discloses a modular constructor member which basically has a multiplicity of generally isosceles shaped triangle male protrusions and female receiving members so that they can be fitted together to form a block wall, wherein there are both horizontal and vertical interfitting members to create the structure.
The Risi Patent is a design patent which discloses the shape of the object as opposed to its functional features. However, what is disclosed is having a male protrusion from the top and a bottom receiving protrusion on the bottom wall so that one male protrusion can be inserted into a female protrusion on the next row of blocks.
The Abdul-Baki Patent once again discloses a concept of having interlocking building blocks which are light in weight and may be assembled without the use of mortar or other building agents. A series of interlocking blocks may be assembled to form gravity retaining walls or other rigid structures. The invention is described as providing non flammable lightweight interlocking, self-aligning blocks for use in constructing walls.
For the Cerrato Patent it discloses a masonry wall system incorporating a plurality of masonry and blocks each consisting of interlocking dove tails 12 along with a vertical and horizontal mating surfaces 11, 15, 16 and 17. “Each main block includes an upper interlocking device for interlocking with vertically adjacent blocks, and a lower interlocking device for interlocking with vertically adjacent blocks. A plurality of reinforcing structures are placed in the stabilization holes through a plurality of the main blocks. Each of the reinforcing structures is sized to permit movement of the main blocks along horizontal planes for a predetermined extent in a direction perpendicular to at least one of the wall faces. As a result, the horizontal movement to the predetermined extent transfers stress to adjacent blocks.”
The Povitz Published Patent Application discloses a multiple game block puzzle. “A multiple game block puzzle comprises a plurality of interlocked block members. Each block member has first, second, third and fourth block member edges, which define a first surface and a first pictorial image, which includes a first plurality of partial pictorial images. Each partial pictorial image corresponds to a portion of the first pictorial image. The first partial pictorial images are attached to the first surface of each one of the block members and are aligned along at least two block member edges to match the first pictorial image to a first reference copy thereof. A kit including the puzzle is also provided.”
The Pbsselt Published Patent Application specifically discloses “A system of interlocking wall and corner components for construction of a building include a plurality of elongate key members and a plurality of elongate side members. The key members are arranged as horizontal pairs of parallel upper and lower key members sandwiching therebetween pairs of parallel side members. The pair of parallel upper and lower key members form therebetween a pair of dove-tail joint female receiver sockets. Opposed facing sides of the pairs of parallel side members have a corresponding pair of laterally inwardly disposed dove-tail joint male members for mating into dove-tail engagement in the female receiver sockets to form a dove-tail joint. The pairs of key members and the pairs of side members form elongate horizontal beams mountable one on top of another to form a vertical array of wall layers.” The patent application has the concept of interlocking horizontal sections with a male tongue and female groove remaining vertical wall portions and also on the side walls there is shown the center post 18. Specifically, “In FIGS. 4, 4a and 4b, a corner post 40 is mounted to side members 12 by means of dovetail joints. Post 40 has projecting tails 42 formed on adjacent sides. Side members 12 are vertically chamfered so that the chamfers when in opposed facing relation cooperatively form a socket 44. Tails 42 fit snugly into sockets 44. Key members 14 are trimmed so as to abut projecting tails 42 when the key members are mounted onto the side members. The mating inside corners of the inside side members are further chamfered as at 46 allowing a close tolerance inside cover fit.”
The Dolan Patent shows a system of interlocking environment or retaining walls which basically have interlocking side members that mate with each other.
The Muszynski Published Patent Application discloses a wall construction using hollow glass building elements. The construction unit to be used in erecting both flat and arched profiled walls consist of supporting elements being the horizontal and vertical fasteners 1 and 2 in a form of joined blocks, where there are male and female members that form interlocking vertical rows and horizontal rows.
There is a significant need to provide a method for constructing walls of the framed block assemblies to contain the fundamental structure of the wall including blocks and frame members with interlocking means, so that, the walls can be efficiently and effectively assembled.